She missed two weeks of school while in isolation due to the radioactive medication she was taking. Anything she touched that could not be thoroughly cleaned had to be burned.

"There was a baby monitor in my room for my family to keep in contact with me," Simonds said.

Even with the challenges she was facing, the thought of taking a semester off and delaying her graduation never entered her mind.

"I was going to graduate," she said. "That was my goal and I was going to graduate with honors."

In a field where grade point averages mean so much in order to make it into medical school, professors were taken aback.

"She almost made it sound like it was not a big deal," said UNL professor Linda Young. "She had such a positive attitude about it."

Simonds emailed her teachers for assignments and tests. Classmates even Skyped some of the classes for her. One test was mailed to her and her mother had to read the questions and mark down the answers for her.

"It was an interesting experience," she said. "My mom definitely learned a lot, as well."

Simonds started a blog to let her family and friend know how she was doing. It was fittingly named, "Keep Calm and Keri On."

"It's perfect, because that's what I've always done. If something knocks me down, I'm going to get up and keep going," Simonds said. "I don't let it hold me down, so I called this my whole new adventure."

Her blog became something much more. It inspired her friends, of course, but also strangers.

"You think you're having a hard day and you look over at Keri and you can't imagine what she's going through," said Lindsay Grover, Simonds' roommate.

All indications are that the treatments have worked and Simonds is slowly regaining her strength.

Her cancer journey became the new topic for her honors thesis.

"I changed everything about it. I think it's even better because it's personal," she said.

Simonds said her fight with cancer not only made her more determined to be a doctor, but also a better one.

She goes back for a check-up in July and then plans to take a year off before going to medical school.